Thursday, August 21, 2014

War Isn't Working – Tell the Senate Now, "23 years – Enough Already!"

The United States has been bombing Iraq off and on (mostly on) for about twenty-three, yes 23, years.

Has
it worked? Is Iraq peaceful, stable, secure? Have we eliminated
potential threats to the U.S. and our allies, or have we exacerbated
them?

Has
U.S. military engagement in the region, whether by bombing, invasion,
occupation or providing weapons transfers and military aid, been
effective?

I think “abject failure” is the only way to describe U.S. policy.

Can
we afford to keep doing this, at an exorbitant cost, when it’s been so
spectacularly unsuccessful, and we have such pressing needs in our
communities that need our attention and our tax dollars?

President
Obama has spoken wisely about the limits of U.S. military might to
solve the problems in Iraq and the Middle East, and rules out a large
troop presence on the ground, yet U.S. military actions in Iraq are
escalating, and the mad momentum of war often defies presidential good
intentions.

Last month the House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed H. Con. Res. 105
stating clearly there is no legal authority for U.S. military
involvement in Iraq without express Congressional approval. The Senate
needs to do the same.